student loan

The Dutch government wants to increase the interest on student loans as of 2020, according to a legislative proposal sent to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, last week. The measure must bring 226 million euros into the treasury, and is intended to keep the loan system affordable, ANP reports.

More than half of Dutch students loan more money from educational services department DUO than they need for their studies, according to a study Nibud published on Friday. Of these students, half loaned more money to save up for when they are done studying. The low interest rates on student loans is one reason for doing so, according to the researchers, NU.nl reports.

The police arrested a 32-year-old man in Groningen on suspicion of computer fraud, identity fraud and money laundering. He was caught buying items online with stolen identities and then reselling them. He told the police he did so to pay off his student loan, the police said in a statement.

The man placed so-called key-loggers on two public computers at an educational institution in the city of Groningen. Key-loggers record what keys are hit on a keyboard, which gave the man access to, for example, credit card information or login details.

The national student loan debt is at its highest level ever, according to figures from education organization DUO. In total students and former students currently owe 17.6 billion euros to the state, compared to 12 billion euros five years ago, the Telegraaf reports.

Students in Intermediate Vocational Education (Mbo) want more guidance while looking for internships for continued education. The Youth Organization Vocational Education (JOB) has monitored students looking for training positions, and found that they have a hard time doing so.

The parties negotiating the loan scheme for students have agreed that students may keep using public transport for free, according to sources in The Hague. This counts for university as well as college students doing vocational studies, the Volkskrant reports.

The Cabinet is going to pull out €200 to €300 million for a deal between GroenLinks and D66 with a loan system for students. The two opposition parties are demanding that amount to compensate poorer families for the loss of their study grant. The Cabinet hopes to finalize the deal this week.